Pittsburgh Street Banner

Where Champions Will Play

This is the Consol Energy Arena being under construction in Downtown Pittsburgh. It is tentatively set to be finished by August 2010. The Penguins will be the primary tennant of this building and hopefully can open it up with another Stanley Cup Champions banner raising ceremony.

Pittsburgh, The City of Champions

The 2 trophies on display together in Downtown Pittsburgh

The Stanley Cup, Pittsburgh Penguins 2008-09

The Vince Lombardi Trophy, Pittsburgh Steelers 2008

Quecreek Coal Miners Rescue Site

The actual shaft that the miners were rescued from.

On July 28, 2002, 9 coal miners were rescued from the mine shaft after a collapse happened inside the mine. They were trapped for about 77 hours and miraculously they all survived. The miners were surrounded by water after the collapse.

The pictures are from the actual site. It is located in Quecreek, PA, about 60 miles east of Pittsburgh.

Colvin Covered Bridge

Covered Bridges in Bedford, PA and still in use today.

1923 Model T

I saw this car in a hotel parking lot and I just had to get a picture of it.

Hard Rock Cafe Boston, Quincy Market Location

My 36th Hard Rock Cafe was Boston's new restaurant at the Quincy Market area. This is a much better location for it and the cafe is a lot better. It has outside dining and a huge bar area. This is just a short "T" ride to Fenway Park for Red Sox baseball.

Hard Rock Cafe Boston

The 35th Hard Rock Cafe that I had the pleasure of visiting was in Boston. We were here for lunch and it was the first time that the All Access card was needed for lunch. For some reason the place was packed. Nothing really stands out about this cafe. The atmosphere was average and the restaurant was small and the store was exceptionally small. This was a store where you couldn't pick the shirts off the shelf, they had them behind the counter. It also took quite a while to get waited on.

We only dined here once, but a return to Boston will require another visit to this cafe. It is easy to find and very walkable to other attractions.

Hard Rock Cafe Denver

The 34th Hard Rock Cafe that I had the pleasure of visiting was in the wonderful city of Denver. The cafe is located in Denver Pavilions at the 16th St. Mall. It is a huge shopping area with lots of souvenir shops. This cafe was nothing to brag about appearance wise, but we had some of the best service ever in the Hard Rock. Our first glass of water was gone in a matter of minutes. Our waitress then brought us a pitcher of water without asking. She was surprised we drank the whole pitcher. On a 95 degree day that really isn't a surprise.

Denver was better than I imagined. There was lots to see and the people were nothing but friendly. I wore my Steelers shirt around town and got a few comments and one guy at our hotel said, "Go Steelers!" The highlight of Denver for me was the Coors Field tour.

We dined at the Hard Rock twice, once for dinner and the other was for dessert. They have the best root beer floats, hands down. I will not hesitate in dining here on our next visit to Denver.

My Favorite Hard Rock Cafe

The 33rd Hard Rock Cafe that I visited was in the wonderful city of Myrtle Beach. I visited this cafe in April 2006. This is my all time favorite Cafe. I heard many wonderful things about this cafe, but it took me quite a long time to finally see it for myself.

The highlight of Myrtle Beach was Broadway at the Beach and feeding the fish. This place was a total surprise to us. There was so much to do in this area and we didn't even see the beach.

We ate at this cafe 3 times during the trip and we needed to use the All Access card twice. The longest wait would have been 45 minutes so I showed my card and we were seated immediately. This will definately be a place we will see again.

Hard Rock Cafe New York, Times Square

The 32nd Hard Rock Cafe that I visited was New York's Time Square location. This cafe was originally located on 57th St. for over 20 years until it moved into the Paramount Building at Times Square in August 2005.

I visited this location in Nov. 2005.This is one of the nicest cafes now. It is so much bigger and a lot easier to get to. Times Square is where we usually spend most of the day at and now everything is in one area. We needed to use the All Access Card for service here. The wait was almost 2 hours, but with All Access, we were seated in under 20 minutes.

I have visited this location twice now and once again, the All Access card got us seated immediately with a 45 minute wait looming without it.

Hard Rock Cafe Detroit

The 31st Hard Rock Cafe that I visited was in the lovely city of Detroit. This was the last leg of our Mid Western trip in July 2005. This trip completed 4 new Hard Rock Cafes and 4 new states.

Sometimes I feel like I should bend over and kick myself right in the ass for going to Detroit. This is the armpit of the United States as far as I'm concerned. I never saw such a scary city or a dirty city before. Due to some bad directions from the Hard Rock's website, we got lost coming to this cafe and ended up in God knows where. Then, their highway department decides they don't need street signs above so I ended up driving up the wrong way of a One-Way street in Downtown Detroit. I finally managed to drive right past the Hard Rock 3 times while I was lost but had no clue how to get to it.

If there is a good thing about being lost, it was driving right past Ford Field. Why is that important you may ask? The Steelers won the Super Bowl in that stadium and I feel my being lost in that lovely city made me drive right past the field to bring the team good luck.

After we finally found the vicinity of the Hard Rock and park the car, we had to walk a few blocks to get to it. I am thankful we made it to and from in one piece, by walking in downtown, you would clearly understand. Then leaving this city was just as difficult. There were not any signs leading me in the direction of I-75 South.

I don't know why there is a Hard Rock Cafe in Detroit, but Seattle, a city that brought on the grunge music is without one.

The only good thing that came out of Detroit is Jerome Bettis.




I will say the Cafe inside was very nice. It had it's own uniqueness that made it stand out. Sadly, I have not had the opportunity to visit Detroit or the Hard Rock since.

Hard Rock Cafe Chicago

The 30th Hard Rock Cafe visit for me was in Chicago. This was my 3rd Hard Rock visit during our Mid Western trip in July 2005. Many Hard Rock fanatics criticize this cafe, but I found nothing wrong with it. The only surprise was the slow lunch crowd. I really liked the tower of power located at the bar. This had one of the bigger stores that I can remember.

My first time in Chicago was awesome. The highlights were the double decker bus tour, the John Hancock Building, Sears Tower, the Wrigley Building, and the skyline from across Lake Michigan to name just a few. This is definately one of the nicer big cities. We were unable to get served at "Chez Antoine's" because I know Abe Froman.

Hard Rock Cafe Minneapolis

The 29th Hard Rock Cafe visit for me was in Minneapolis. I visited this cafe during a week long trip to the Mid-West in July 2005. This was just a cafe stop to say that I've been there and we only went into the store. This was the only reason we went into Minneapolis.

The highlights from this trip was driving through Wisconsin, the Minnesota State Capitol, Monument Park and downtown St. Paul, and the Mall of America.

Hard Rock Cafe Indianapolis

The 28th Hard Rock Cafe that I visited was in Indianapolis. I visited this cafe during a week long Mid Western trip in July 2005. This was the first of 4 Hard Rock Cafes on this trip. I can't believe there is a Hard Rock in Indy. There is absolutely nothing to do in this town. If it weren't for the Duran Duran concert, this would have been a visit only for the Hard Rock Cafe.

Hard Rock Cafe Amsterdam

The 27th Hard Rock Cafe visit for me was in Amsterdam, The Netherlands or Holland as it's also known as. I visited this cafe during my 2 week European vacation in June 2005. It was the 4th Hard Rock on this trip. The Netherlands made 5 countries visited on this trip. The others were Germany, Denmark, Belgium, and Sweden.

I was a little disappointed with Amsterdam, but there were 2 highlights worth mentioning. The first was the Anne Frank House and the other was all the house boats. Some of them were really cool looking. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to patronize a coffee shop.

This Hard Rock Cafe is my second favorite for outside appearance. It also had a patio for outdoor dining. We dined at this cafe twice.

Hard Rock Cafe Cologne

The 26th Hard Rock Cafe that I visited was in Cologne, Germany. I visited this cafe during our 2 week European vacation in June 2005. This was the 3rd Hard Rock that I visited on this trip. Cologne is very close to Bonn, the former capital of West Germany and that also is where our friend Petra lives.

The highlight from Cologne was the Dom Cathedral. The church was done with the Gothic architecture. It was so cool looking.

Hard Rock Cafe Berlin

The 25th Hard Rock Cafe visit for me was in Berlin, Germany during our 2 week European vacation in June 2005. This was my second Hard Rock on this vacation and first in Germany. Def Leppard had one of their guitars above the bar in here.

This is my favorite German city so there are many highlights. My favorite site was the Berlin Wall. There was still a piece of it standing. The other sites were Checkpoint Charlie, the Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag, Berlin Dom, and the Alex Tower to name just a few. I thought East Berlin was much nicer than West Berlin.

The other interesting highlights prior to Berlin were the overnight stop in Malmo, Sweden, taking a cruise on the Baltic Sea, and exploring the East German town of Sassnitz. I also visited my first castle, Sanssouci in Potsdam, Germany. This was the residence of Frederick.

Germany is my favorite country that I have visited and I will be back there someday. I have only been to this cafe one time.

Hard Rock Cafe Copenhagen

My 24th Hard Rock Cafe was in Copenhagen, Denmark. I visited this cafe during our 2 week European vacation in June 2005. This was the 1st of 4 cafes on this trip. This cafe was average and I remember the service being very slow.

The highlights of Copenhagen were the Mermaid statue, the harbor area with the cool boats, and the guards at their Palace. Copenhagen was very easy to navigate considering it's a big city. It was also fun driving over those 3 bridges in Denmark to get to Copenhagen.

Hard Rock Cafe Foxwoods

The 23rd Hard Rock Cafe that I visited was in Foxwoods, CT. It is inside the Rainmaker Casino. I visited this cafe in November 2004. This was another roadtrip just for the Hard Rock Cafe. This cafe had the rudest store workers. I was so ticked at them, I wrote a complaint letter to the Hard Rock Corp. about the incident.


The highlights of this trip were ticking off a Patriots fan after his comment on my Steeler attire, driving into Rhode Island, and knowing there is "lotsa pahking" at Mystic Seaport.


I haven't been back to this cafe. Here is a tip for anyone planning to drive thru Connecticut: Don't get off the highway, those idiot drivers won't let you merge back on.

In and Around the Arctic Circle

Joy, Alaska

Yes, this is a working outhouse.

Here is the proof, T.P. and sanitary wipes.

Fairbanks, Alaska

Here are a few pictures of Fairbanks, AK.